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'Theoretical computer science' is the collection of topics of computer science that focuses on the more abstract, logical and mathematical aspects of computing, such as the theory of computation, analysis of algorithms and semantics of programming languages. Although not itself a single topic, its practitioners form a distinct subgroup within computer science researchers.

Contents

Scope

Organizations

Journals and newsletters

Conferences

See also

References

External links

Scope

It is not easy to circumscribe the theory areas precisely; the ACM's Special Interest Group on Algorithms and Computation Theory (SIGACT), which describes its mission as the promotion of theoretical computer science, says
:"The field of theoretical computer science is interpreted broadly so as to include algorithms, data structures, computational complexity theory, distributed computation, parallel computation, VLSI, machine learning, computational biology, computational geometry, information theory, cryptography, quantum computation, computational number theory and algebra, program semantics and verification, automata theory, and the study of randomness. Work in this field is often distinguished by its emphasis on mathematical technique and rigor."
Even so, the "theory people" in computer science self-identify as different. Some characterize themselves as doing the "'science' underlying the field of computing"[1], although this neglects the experimental science done in non-theoretical areas such as software system research.

Organizations

★ EATCS, the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science

★ SIGACT

★ Dutch Association for Theoretical Computer Science [2]

Journals and newsletters

★ ''Information and Computation''

★ ''Theory of Computing'' (open access journal)

★ ''Formal Aspects of Computing''

★ ''Journal of the ACM''

★ ''SIAM Journal on Computing''

★ ''SIGACT News''

★ ''Theoretical Computer Science''

★ ''Theory of Computings Systems''

★ ''Chicago Journal of Theoretical Computer Science''

★ ''International Journal of Foundations of Computer Science''

★ ''Foundations and Trends® in Theoretical Computer Science ''

Conferences

★ Annual ACM Symposium on the Theory of Computing (STOC)

★ IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS)

★ Symposium on Discrete Algorithms (SODA)

★ International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming (ICALP)

★ Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science (STACS)

★ European Symposium on Algorithms (ESA)

★ Algebraic Methodology And Software Technology (AMAST)

★ IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS)

★ International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation(ISAAC)

★ (APPROX/RANDOM)

★ Computational Complexity Conference (CCC)

★ Symposium on Parallelism in Algorithms and Architectures (SPAA)

★ ACM Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing (PODC)

★ Computability in Europe (CiE)

See also

★ Formal science

References

★ SIGACT home page

★ Challenges for Theoretical Computer Science, draft of 2000

External links

★ SIGACT directory of additional theory links

★ [news://comp.theory Usenet comp.theory]